1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to Web browsing. More specifically, the present invention relates to mapping Web sites based significance of contact and category.
2. The Related Technology
Computer systems and related technology affect many aspects of society. Indeed, the computer system's ability to process information has transformed the way we live and work. Computer systems now commonly perform a host of tasks (e.g., word processing, scheduling, and database management) that prior to the advent of the computer system were performed manually. More recently, computer systems have been coupled to one another and to other electronic devices to form both wired and wireless computer networks over which the computer systems and other electronic devices can transfer electronic data. As a result, many tasks performed at a computer system (e.g., voice communication, accessing electronic mail, transaction processing, Web browsing, and printing documents) include the exchange of electronic messages between a number of computer systems and/or other electronic devices via wired and/or wireless computer networks.
The World Wide Web in particular makes vast amounts of information available to anyone with Internet access. A user connects to the Internet (e.g., thorough an Internet Service Provider) and can then browse context at literally millions of Web sites using a Web browser. To access a Web site, a user can enter a corresponding Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”) for the Web site into the Web browser. A URL is a string of characters representing an electronic address of a computer system and a portion of Web based context residing at the computer system. Since URLs are processed by computers the specificity of a user-entered URL must be exact. A discrepancy of even one character in an entered URL can cause a Web browser to access an incorrect Web site or report an error (e.g., 404 not found).
Thus, when a user does not know a correct URL for a Web site, the use can enter search terms into a search engine to attempt to find the Web site. If the search engine locates the Web site, the search engine can provide a HyperText Markup Language (“HTML”) link (presented at the Web browser) to the Web site. The user can then select the HTML link to access the Web site.
Search engines are also useful for identifying Web sites related to a specified subject, for example, when a user has no prior knowledge of such Web sites. For example, a user can enter the search term “cars” to locate Web sites related to cars. The search engine can provide HTML links to identified car related Web sites. The user can then select HTML links to access any of the identified car related Web sites.
Typically, Web sites also include links to other (potentially related) Web sites. For example, a car related Web site may contain HTML links to mechanics, auto parts stores, etc. related Web sites. Users can select these include links to access content at the other Web sites (which may contain additional HTML links to further related or non-related content). Thus, a user can follow some number of HTML links before reaching a Web site that has content they find relevant, helpful and/or useful. After accessing relevant, helpful and/or useful content, a user will typically eventually close their Web browser thereby terminating the connection to the Web site and the content.
At some later time, the user may desire to access the same content again. However, the user typically has no way to retrieve the series of links that were accessed when previously reaching the Web site containing the content. Thus, a user will typically re-enter the same search terms (e.g., “cars”) into a search engine and attempt to retrace their steps across HTML links to different Web sites until the content is reached.
Browsers typically include some mechanisms to assist a user in locating previously accessed content. For example, most browsers include a history file that stores URLs for previously accessed Web sites. As users access Web sites, the Web browser stores URLs for the Web sites in the history file. To find a URL for a previously accessed Web site, a user can review the history file (typically presented as a textual list) to attempt to identify the URL. This allows a user to review only those previously accessed URLs to identifying a previously access Web site. Relative to re-entering search terms and accessing various HTML links to retrace their steps, reviewing URLs from a history file may save a user some amount of time when trying to re-access content of the World Wide Web.
Most browsers also include auto-complete mechanisms that attempt to guess a complete URL from a partially entered portion of a URL (e.g., through text or character matching). Thus, as a user enters portions of a URL into a Web browse, the Web browser can attempt to match the entered portions to a URL in a history file. Accordingly, the combination of history files and auto-complete mechanisms can further reduce, at least somewhat, the effort required to re-access content on the World Wide Web.
Browsers typically also include mechanisms that allow user to store URLs in a list of frequently visited sites (often referred to as a “favorites list”). A favorites list is more concise than a history file, since a user selects the URLs that will be included a favorites list (as opposed to Web browser automatically including URLs in a history file). Subsequent to accessing a Web site, a user can select a user-interface control that causes a URL for the Web to be stored in a favorites list. Some Web browsers also allow a user to enter a textual description of the Web site associated with the URL. When the user desires to re-access the Web site again, the user can access the favorites list (typically a textual drop down menu) and select the URL for the Web site from the favorites list.
However, since URLs are textual and often provide no indication of the actual content at a represented Web site (some URLs are simply an Internet Protocol (“IP”) address), a user is typically required to recall what content corresponds to a specified URL. As the number of URLs added to a history file and/or favorites list increases, it can become more difficult, and eventually impossible, for a user to recall what content corresponds to each URL. Textual descriptions in a favorites list can assist a user in recalling the content associated with a specified URL. Unfortunately, use of textual descriptions require a user to establish and updated the textual descriptions as new Web sites are added to a favorites lists and/or content at a Web site changes. Many users lack the time and effort required to maintain textual descriptions for a favorites list.
Thus, information provided in history files and favorites lists is typically limited to URLs and user-maintained textual descriptions. That is, aside from a URL and possibly some accompanying textual description of the URL, history files and favorites provide limited, if any, information that is helpful to a user in re-accessing a Web site. When a user desires to re-access Web sites that are not included in a favorites list, textual descriptions, even if properly maintained, provide little, if any, benefit to the user. Accordingly, users are typically required to rely heavily on their memory when attempting to re-access a Web site. As a result, re-accessing Web sites on the World Wide Web can be time consuming and burdensome to users.